https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Sandy-Hook-s-Barden-Hockley-not-running-for-12869743.php
Sandy Hook’s Barden, Hockley not running for Esty’s seat
Updated 7:37 pm, Friday, April 27, 2018
NEWTOWN - The high-profile parents who lost sons in the Sandy Hook massacre and went on to build one of the premier gun violence prevention groups in the country will not run for Congress in Connecticut’s 5th District.
Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden said Friday afternoon considerations for their surviving children, who are still in school, helped sway their decision not to run.
“Perhaps, one day, one of us will embrace this opportunity,” Hockley and Barden wrote in a joint statement. “Unfortunately, now is not the time.”
Both Hockley and Barden had been urged to run by leading Democrats after U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty dropped her re-election bid because she mishandled a sexual abuse scandal in her Washington, D.C., office.
Hockley and Barden agreed that only one of them would decide to run, if that seemed like the right decision. Instead, they now want to continue their work at Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that promotes school safety and gun violence prevention.
“I respect their decision not to run for the seat and respect the thought they put into this decision,” said Nick Balletto, Democratic State chairman.
The party’s hopes are now pinned on former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Balletto said.
“Glassman, who is in the race for the 5th, is a great activist and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the district,” he said. “I have no doubt that she will run a great race.”
The two-time Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, was the first candidate to declare her candidacy for Congress in the wake of Esty’s decision not to run in early April.
Former Newtown Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver also said he would run as a Democrat.
The two Democrats now in the race have three Republican challengers left after a bumpy week in which the candidate pool has grown and contracted day by day.
State Rep. William Petit, R-Plainville, the sole survivor of the 2007 Chesire home invasion, had been weighing a run for Esty’s seat as a Republican until Wednesday, when he said he would run for re-election to his seat in the state legislature instead.
The GOP had encouraged Petit to run hoping his high-profile could help them win in what has traditionally been Connecticut’s only competitive Congressional seat.
Petit’s announcement prompted a political newcomer to throw her hat in Thursday. Republican Ruby O’Neill, wife of state Rep. Arthur O’Neill, R-Southbury, declared her intent with the support of House Republicans.
Vice chair of the Commission on Equity and Opportunity, O’Neill has never before run for public office but she is counting on her academic background and Latino heritage to help her to victory in a district where Esty, a Democrat, won with wide margins.
Also vying for the seat is Republican Manny Santos, a former mayor of Meridan. In 2013, Santos defeated former Mayor Michael Rhode to become the first Republican mayor of Meriden since 1983.
Santos has raised about $15,000 in individual contributions for his campaign, according to federal filings.
Facing off with Santos and O’Neill is Republican Craig Diangelo, a former information technology worker, who has raised about $7,500 and kicked in $5,500 from his own pocket.
In late March, Esty admitted to mishandling allegations against a former chief of staff, who she kept on board three months after learning he was accused of punching and threatening to kill a former aide in her D.C. office.
emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
